Rice/Baylor has 1 essay for the first round of the BSMD in addition to the regular Rice Application. It is the same with Baylor/Baylor. Brown has a couple of short answers & 1 essay I think needed for the PLME program in addition to the regular Brown application. No one can give an estimation on the time needed for each application nor should they. It is up to you to decide how much time each application needs and how much time you have to use for that application.
This is my kidâs running timeline in shorthand (his excel sheets are something else though)
Regular Undergrad
USF- DONE
UNC-CH (EA) due Oct 15
Duke-due Dec 20 RD
Georgetown (EA)-DONE
J Hop-due Nov 1 ED or Jan 2 RD
UF- Nov 1 for RD
Swarthmore- Jan 1 for RD
Emory- Jan 1 for RD
Yale- due Jan 2 for RD
Dartmouth- Jan 2 for RD
UPenn- by Jan 5
BSMD Applications
Penn State- by Nov 1
Temple- apply by EA deadline: Nov 1
Drexel- by Nov 1
UPITT- by Nov 15
Hofstra- use EA deadlines of Nov 15 or Dec 15
VCU- by Nov 15
BU* (also undergrad)- by Nov 15
Case* (also undergrad)- by Dec 1
GW* (also for undergrad)- by Nov 15
Brown- by Jan 1
URochester- by Nov 15
Northwestern- between Oct 1 and Dec1
Right now he has sorted them into due date order and assigned a specific week or so to work on each application. Hopefully he will be done and ready for submission of alL of them by Thanksgiving!
Thank you for the insight @bsmdbaylor, @Vicky2019 , @mom2boys1999.
Appreciate your openness on sharing your Câs plans of action.
But it is difficult to stick with a predictable timeline since each of the programs have their specific essay prompts and idiosyncrasies, that one may not have the luxury of reusing. For example Penn State/Jeff I believe has some 5 write-ups and/or resume kind of things.
And this writing stuff can be quite challenging too, not like school essays. You are trying to convince the readers, in a subtle manner, why you need to be chosen for an interview (or for the program eventually) amongst many applicants as qualified or better than oneself. So sometimes this can be very iterative (and time consuming) process of revising, rewriting and improvisation and can lead to nail biting finishes. Something to factor in and start very early.
It is just not the number of applications that determines the likelihood of success. Wish there was a linear relationship, but unfortunately not. One has to self evaluate oneâs own background, strengths and weaknesses and the likelihood of getting into a particular program. With 6 slots each for the Baylor programs, can be stretch for anyone no matter how outstanding the credentials may have been. UAB has more slots but also seems to have strong in state and regional preferences though it is not mentioned on their website. (One can checkout the profiles of the candidates selected each year on their portal and where they are from)
So may want to focus on a few where one thinks good chances of having a shot and concentrate all the effort on, than applying widely and risk spreading oneself thin.
And perhaps that was the reason few candidates in earlier cycles, some of them even with truly outstanding credentials, choosing to apply exclusively for BS/MD programs and only a couple of regular undergrads (one of them being state school where they can rest assured of admission). That way they can apply widely within this realm of programs without risking spreading themselves too thin in any of them.
But then they were also perfectly contented going to state school (and not any fancy name) if things didnât work out.
It is difficult to say you will spend x hours on college A vs y hours on college B.
Best way to look at essays is the following:
- common app and why medicine - the two most important essays - what do you think it will take for you to be comfortable with those versions? 1 hour? 10 hours? 50 hours?
- supplemental questions - assume an average of 4 per application (some will be less and some will be more) and factor in two applications - one for undergrad and another for medical school - for many colleges. Before long, you will be looking for 70 to 100+ essays (50 words to 800 words). How much time will these take - 70 hours? 100 hours? 500 hours?
- For some you will have âenoughâ time and for some you will be âscrambling.â
One way to look at this is to assume you have taken another AP subject in school - letâs call it AP College Applications! Plan for as much time for this process (if not more) as you would plan for your AP studies, homework and tests.
And plan to be involved till April-end of next year by when you will make a decision.
It is a known fact that the requirements for BS/MD have gotten more competitive and more stringent over time.
What is a comfortable number of someone is a very individual decision - are you comfortable with 10? 15? 20?
There is trade-off between number of applications vs time (and fatigue/money).
Applying broadly means you are diversifying your risks and improving your odds.
My kiddo has really been trying to overcome his innate propensity for procrastination. While all plans have a level of needed fluidity, he is doing a good job of trying to keep track of everything and making sure it is manageable to go through an application cycle while also starting his last year of high school (all his classes are DE). Heâs in a good place with his his common app essay and why medicine (barring needed tweaks per prompt). Itâs a constantly running process.
Not quite clear to me what the asterisks above for. Do you mean you want to apply for both the BS/MD as well as undergrad at the above 3 places? Donât think thatâs how it works at BU. Once you indicated interest in SMED, it will be placed in a separate stream of processing. You should hear by late Jan to early Feb at most if being called for interview. Otherwise you should call the admissions office up to move the packet for undergrad consideration. The sooner the better so they can consider for any merit based awards before they run out (not an issue for need based though). The competition for undergrad is also high, with the overall acceptance rate this year around 18.5% and could be half as much in certain disciplines like engineering and business.
@rk2017, @NoviceDad thank you for the message.
There has been conflicting info about the BU SMED v undergrad. Some people in the BSMD 2019 thread posted they were able to be looked at for both (there was some discussion as my son had been told it wasnât possible). So it probably needs like two asterisks and a âno clue if it will workâ caveat, Ha!
(But yes, asterisks indicate heâs also interested in the school even if he doesnât get the BSMD acceptance. We were trying to visit schools before Covid and he had a great visit to Case (and I think it would be a good fit all around).) though I personally do feel the asterisks night change- for example he was awarded a prize from URochester that can also earn a scholarship. And he is really interested in Brownâs curriculum. So who knows how the list will look in 6 months? Itâs a lot of moving parts.
The competition for all schools on his list is high. He has his safety locked in- USF- so everything else is shoot for the moon and hope he lands. His stats are good, heâs an URM, he has good ECs, and we have a fantastic advisor working with him on his essays (in addition to having a school counselor as a mom, though the BSMD path isnât one I am familiar with hence the advisor). Heâs done what he can and at this point- all he can affect are the essays. Itâs going to be a weird admission cycle this year. He has spent the summer working on his common app essay and his why medicine essay so he is off to a start! (Good will remain to be seen)
We bought him a white board calendar yesterday and hung it up in his room. I am converting him to an appreciation of using color coded markers muahahaha.
BU considers the application only for BS/MD if applied to that program. But once you inform them down the road (when not getting interview invite till late in the cycle), they do consider for UG. This is based on my D in 2015-16 app cycle. She got admission to BU UG after notifying them. Similar thing for CWRU and / or URochester or both.
She got admission there also with $15-20k merit awards.
@worryingabtcollege wrote:
Hi! Does anyone have a list of âeasiestâ BSMD programs to get into? Bc I only want to apply to a few; if I donât get in, Iâm also fine with just undergrad. Thank you so much!!
As an analogy, according to you, which is easier - getting into Harvard or Yale?
All BS/MD programs are hyper-competitive.
If you are looking for an âeasyâ route - try BS/DO.
@Superstar678 wrote â
HI everyone, can someone please tell me about the application process for BSMD, because I do not know a lot about it.
====================================
High level application process:
- step 1: apply to undergrad via common app or college specific application. You may need to select specific program or majors
- Step 1a: do the undergrad interview where required
- Step 2: respond to supplemental application questions or essays
- Step 3: if invited, do the BS/MD medical school interview
- Step 4: if luck in on your side, you will get an offer
- Step 5: By May 1, accept one offer
Overall plan to be doing applications (including supplemental) till Feb/Mar and interviews till April of next year.
Here is the Casper page. More BS/MD programs require Casper this year. https://takecasper.com/schools-and-programs/
@juniorbug20 does this involve all BSMD like Boston and Case western BSMD?
Does any one have info on which BSMD colleges have MMI format?
@brookiekk You wonât get interviews for both programs because Baylor COM has a one-interview-only policy. However, it does not allow the applicants to choose the feeder school to be a finalist for. Once youâve been chosen for an interview with Baylor COM, you wonât be considered for any other interview.
@ksmed1
If you click on the â+â sign next to the two universities in the link above, you can see it is required only for dentistry for BU and CWRU ⊠And traditional route medicine.
@brookiekk My son was in the last cycle with Baylor COM BSMD. Here is the deal. You are right about timing of when Rice and Baylor U pick their finalists to advance to the Baylor COM interview. Baylor U has two B2B events: one in Nov and one in Jan. Out of these event, finalists for their Baylor COM interview are announced in Dec and Feb. Prior to 2020, Rice used to announce their finalist candidates for the Baylor COM interview later than both B2B. This year, Rice changed its process and announced its Baylor COM interview candidates late Jan. So, if you had been picked for Baylor COM interview by the time Rice announced its candidates, you wonât be considered for its interview. No one asked if a candidate has a preference of one feeder vs another. However, if you had been passed over by Rice and applied to Baylor U B2B program Jan event, then you have a chance with Baylor B2B.
For Baylor U B2B program, youâd need to attend their B2B event, if invited. Thereâd be a lecture whichâll be in the topic for an essay to be sent in for the finalist competition. Once selected as a finalist, youâd have to be back to TX for the Baylor COM interview. Baylor B2B interview usually occurs around the end of March, after spring break for some HS and during spring break for most others.
Baylor U has abandoned its generous NMS full-tuition scholarship but it put in other as generous competition-based scholarships. So, for a family that qualifies for need-based full-tuition by income (and has low assets) Rice is a much cheaper option. If not, Baylor has better opportunities for merit scholarships for freshmen and additional opps for current students. Baylor U has the premed requirements built in to each majorâs graduation plan (if youâre not a premed, you could take other courses as electives). That tells you that they have a lot of premed students and they want them to graduate in 4 years and not have to come back as post-bacc or take an extra year for the premed prerequisites.